Scum of the Earth are warning that aliens are here with their newest single "Ziggurats of Mesopotamia."
Scum of the Earth frontman Riggs says the song is about ancient aliens living on mars and hiding out on Earth exterminating humans.
The former Rob Zombie guitarist recently spoke with Rock Life about the new single and its accompanying video as well as the band's upcoming tour plans.
Rock Life: How are things going for you?
Riggs: So far, so good.
RL: How did "Ziggurats of Mesopotamia" come together?
R: I was working with this band called Gang of Souls and they wanted to do some songs together. I had those old lyrics laying around from like 1992 or sometime around there, like 30 years ago! It was about the ancient alien stuff. I was writing songs about that stuff way back when everybody thought the whole thing was stupid and I was trying to do more serious songs about aliens. [laughs]
I'm still not sure why, but I stumbled onto these old lyrics and I just kind of mish-mashed them together in a more tongue-in-cheek style and it seemed like it turned out really cool. I was talking to Gang of Souls and their songs are more drum beats with guitar style and I told them that I had these weird lyrics and that's what got the whole thing started: just working on songs with them.
RL: How did the video come together?
R: The guy who made the video is from South America and he got in contact with me through social media. It was like hey, check out these videos that I made and if you're interested in having me do one for you, you know, I'll do one for you.
I was looking at the stuff that he sent and I thought it was really good and I said yeah and so he had me send him the lyrics and he came up with all of that just from the lyrics. I didn't even change anything. I was just like, that's it! He did the art work for the single and it turned out really good.
RL: And what is the plan for the rest of the year?
R: They're talking about doing a tour in, well not really a tour, but a couple of weeks of shows in October. Just a short run and hopefully as it gets closer to the midterms and the total insanity that's going on, we'll be able to go out and not interfere with all that election infection!
RL: And Halloween is always a great time to tour.
R: Yeah, it's nice and cold out!
RL: When you set out on your solo career, you brought all of that experience from touring the world with Rob Zombie. What do you think was the biggest thing you learned out on the road that you'd want to share?
R: Oh! What did I learn? Well, don't drink too much! [laughs] Yeah, I don't know, I just kind of go with the flow and the only thing that I've learned over the years is that everything is pretty terrible and you've just got to make the best of it. There's always something! That's probably what I've learned.
RL: Was horror something that always appealed to you?
R: Oh yeah, for sure! I grew up with my grandparents and they raised me and I was pretty unsupervised and I'd see some horror movies just playing in town and they would go and buy me a ticket and leave me there. Back then you could sit in the theater all day and watch the same movie three times during the day and it just always appealed to me.
I always loved the horror movies and it seemed like all my friends were into them too. I guess I just gravitated more towards people who are into the same things I was. And back then you had the drive-ins too. You could get a carload of people and it was always the cheesy horror movies and they had the ads on the radio which were always so good. They'd tell you about the bad things that were going to happen to you while you were watching the movie. It was so cool!
RL: So are you one of those people who are always thinking ahead to Halloween?
R: Man, you would think that, but not really! It's really other people who say you should go out around Halloween. It's like, ok! I mean, I don't really care, I'll go out and do a Christmas tour!
It's weird because people kind of mold their lives around horror. It's a lifestyle. The horror fans are different from everyone else. It's so cool. Just meeting people and talking about horror movies and learning about new stuff.
RL: It's a community.
R: Yes! It's like with Kirk Hammett from Metallica. I was just reading a article with him and he was talking about this movie Sinister from a ways back and it was like, ooh! I had never heard of it and heard him talking about it. Horror is his thing so I decided to check it out. He's always spot on and that one was awesome. That word of mouth thing is great.
RL: Is there any music you're feeling right now?
R: I don't know. Unfortunately, the music business is not as good as the horror business. Nobody ever talks about new bands. Man, it's like the world just got so expensive that it seems like nobody can just afford to live in a van down by the river, you know? It's hard to be an independent band, I mean, it always was, but now it's almost impossible.
RL: What keeps you going?
R: Probably that I got into it back before the Internet in the early nineties so I'd been doing it. I just can't imagine not doing it at this point I guess.
RL: Finally, what can people expect from your October shows?
R: What we're going to do is try to bring a big production to the clubs and small venues. We've always kind of done that, but now we're getting more high tech with the LED screen and all the cool lights and just a really good production you normally don't see in clubs.